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Frequently Asked Questions!
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About this FAQ!
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How do I use or navigate this FAQ?!
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Open up the Table of Contents (ToC) to see all the questions, organised in sections, and to
navigate between them. At the top of the ToC is a search field from which you can search for
features or concepts referred to in the ToC.!
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How do I open the Table of Contents (ToC)?!
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Tap the third button down on the left (it has ’T/C’ on it).!
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How do I navigate to a particular FAQ from the ToC?!
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Tap on the question and you will be taken to it.!
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I don’t see any questions - except the first two about using and opening the ToC?!
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That’s because the questions are organised in sections, and the ToC lists the sections, and
within each section, the individual FAQs.!
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What do the little triangles mean next to the section headings in the ToC?!
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The triangles mark the main sections of the FAQ. If you tap on a triangle, it will reveal all the
FAQs within that section.!
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Ah. Thank you!
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You’re welcome.!
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FAQ v1.1
About the App!
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What does TagNotate do that no other app does?!
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TagNotate allows the user to assign tags to individual user-added annotations (notes,
highlights, sketches, underlines, etc.). These user-definable tags can then be used to collect
together annotations containing the same (one or more) tags, across single or multiple
documents. No other application allows tagging of annotations, or the use of such tags to filter
and aggregate notes and highlights across those files.!
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Where can I find out more?!
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www.tagnotate.com!
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Is there a desktop version of the app?!
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Coming soon.!
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Does the app work both in landscape and portrait?!
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Yes.!
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I’d like to request a feature, report a bug, or send you a file I’m having problems with!
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From within the app, tap the ⓘ button, and a small feedback button will appear just above it.
Tapping that presents you with different options for contacting us, including sending us
problematic files.!
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How do we contact the developers about something else?!
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You can also email us at [email protected]!
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Do you have a privacy policy?!
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Yes. You can read it here: www.tagnotate.com/privacy/!
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File Management!
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How do I import files?!
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Tap on the Get Files button on the top left of the main window. It will present you with different
options. The easiest way to import files is via Dropbox.!
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Now that I’ve opened Dropbox, how do I close it so that I can see the main tag cloud
adjacent to the File Browser pane?!
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If you swipe leftwards anywhere in the top gray bar, it slide the Dropbox pane out of the way.
The blue left-pointing chevron on the righthand side of that gray bar is a reminder that you
can swipe the pane away.!
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How do I import more than one file at a time?!
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Zip them up into a single zipped file and import that.!
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What if the files I want to import are organised in folders?!
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If TagNotate encounters a folder structure in your zip file, each file’s parent folder is turned
into a Smart Folder, and this folder will contain all the files that were inside that folder. But
only the parent folder is maintained. TagNotate does not support hierarchical folder structures.!
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Why does it say ‘All Files’ near the top of the file list?!
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‘All Files’ is the name of the default folder in which all your files are stored. If you had opened
the Folder pane and selected a smart folder, it would show the name of that folder instead of
‘All Files’. !
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Can I change the sort order of the files in the browser?!
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Yes. Select A-Z for alphabetical, Date for creation date, and Size for size.!
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How do I move a file to the Trash?!
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1.!
2.!
Swipe the file name leftwards to reveal a red Trash button. This moves the file to the
trash but does not actually delete it.!
With the Folder pane revealed (swipe the blue area of the File Browser rightwards),
‘grab’ the file and drag it to the Trash folder.!
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Why are some words written in red?!
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That’s to indicate that there’s another FAQ coming up soon that deals with whatever action or
concept has been referred to in red.!
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How do I actually delete a file?!
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Open the Folder pane (swipe the blue area rightwards), and locate the Trash folder (it will be
at the very bottom). You can either empty the trash or delete just that file from the trash.!
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How do I empty all the Trash?!
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Swipe the Trash folder (i.e. its name or icon) leftwards to reveal a red Empty button.!
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How do I delete a single file from the Trash?!
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Select the Trash folder, so that all its files are revealed in the File Browser pane. Close the
Folder pane so that only the File Browser is showing (swipe the blue area leftwards), and then
swipe the name of the file you wish to delete leftwards to reveal a red Delete button.!
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If I delete a file, what happens to its tags?!
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If the tags are not used by any other file, they are deleted from the system (and will cease to
appear the next time you open the app). If they are used by other files, they are kept. If a file
is clogging up your tag cloud with all its tags, you can export the file (if you want to keep a
copy) and then delete it. All tags that are unique to that file will be deleted along with the file,
de-cluttering your tag cloud.!
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How do I ‘grab’ a file?!
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Tap and hold the filename and an animation will confirm that you’ve grabbed the file. You can
then drop it in any smart folder. You can only grab files when the Folder pane is open.!
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Can I move files out of the All Files folder?!
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The ‘All Files’ folder is a privileged folder - it is your entire collection of files, regardless of
which folder they may be in.!
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How do I export a file?!
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With the file open, tap the topmost button on the left edge (it’s the button above the one with
the magnifying glass). You will be presented with options to Open in another app, to send in
an email, to export to iTunes, or to save to Dropbox.!
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If I save to Dropbox, where exactly is the file saved?!
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If you had downloaded the file from Dropbox, it will save the file to the original location you
downloaded it from. If you had not, it will save it in your top-level Dropbox directory.!
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What happens to my annotations and tags when I export a file?!
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They remain in the file. They travel with it, so to speak. Other PDF readers will be able to read
the annotations, but they won’t be able to see the tags.!
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How do I know if a file I’ve received on my desktop or other device is tagged if I can’t
see the tags?!
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When you export a file from TagNotate it checks to see if that file contains any tags; if it does,
it adds a note at the start of the file that explains that the file’s annotations are tagged and that
they can be seen using TagNotate.!
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If I edit the exported document on another device and then re-import to TagNotate, will I
still see the original tags?!
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So long as the annotations that had been tagged have not been deleted, their tags will be
intact and you should see them when you re-import.!
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What’s that black bar at the bottom of the screen for?!
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That’s the ‘File bar’. It shows you which is the currently open smart folder, as well as (to the
right of the folder name) the documents that are open. The name with the short line
underneath it is the document that’s currently open. It’s a bit like a ‘Favorites’ bar.!
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What happens if I tap on the names in the File bar at the bottom of the screen?!
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If you tap the folder, it will open the File Browser window. If you tap a filename, it will open up
that file. If you are viewing a file, you can jump directly to the File Browser without having to
close the file by tapping on the folder name in the File bar.!
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What’s the advantage to leaving a file open rather than closing it?!
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Not much, in fact. It makes it a little more speedy when you return to it, because unless you
have opened other files in the meantime, its pages will still be in memory, and won’t have to
be retrieved and recached again. And because its name is still on the File bar, you can go
back to it easily without navigating the File Browser.!
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How can I use tags to filter which files are shown in the File Browser?!
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Adjacent to the File Browser pane (the blue pane on the left of the main screen) is the tag
cloud showing all the tags that you’ve used with all your annotations across all your
documents. If you tap a tag, it will restrict the files in the File Browser to just those files
containing annotations that have been tagged with that tag. You can tap more than one tag,
and filter the files according to whether they contain any of the tags (equivalent to OR) or
whether they each contain all of the selected tags (equivalent to AND).!
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Why are some tags in red?!
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Those are the tags that you’ve selected.!
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What file formats does TagNotate support?!
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Currently, it just supports PDF. We intend to support conversion of other formats to PDF so
that you can annotate those also. Currently, native support in iOS for conversion of Microsoft
Office documents to PDF is poor (it does not come even close to the the support found in OS
X), and even basic formatting can be lost. Rather than offer a 2nd rate experience, we are
limiting TagNotate to working only with PDFs. We are actively exploring different ways of
allowing conversion on a par with either OS X or Adobe’s own offerings. Stay tuned… !
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Folder Management!
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What is the difference between ‘All Files’ and other smart folders?!
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All your files are shown in ‘All Files’. But you can assign files to different smart folders (that’s
why they’re ‘smart’ - a file can be in more than one smart folder). You cannot delete ‘All Files’,
but you can delete or rename the other (smart) folders that you create.!
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Where are the smart folders, I only see All Files?!
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About halfway up the left edge of the File Browser window is a chevron pointing rightwards. If
you swipe it rightwards, you will reveal the Folder pane. You can in fact swipe rightwards
anywhere on the blue background of the browser pane. !
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How do I create a smart folder?!
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When you reveal the Folder pane, you’ll see a ‘+’ at the top. Tap that.!
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How do I delete a smart folder?!
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Swipe the name of the folder leftwards and you will reveal a red Delete button.!
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If I delete a smart folder does that delete its contents?!
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No - they remain in All Files.!
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Once I’ve created a smart folder, how do I add files to it?!
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With the Folder pane open, select (tap) a folder that contains the file you want to copy into the
smart folder (it doesn’t copy it - it’s always the same file, it’s just that you can access it via the
different smart folders that contain it). Then grab the file from the file list (tap-hold until the
document animates) and drag the file to the smart folder and release. You’ll notice that the file
remains in whichever file list you had originally opened, but it is also now contained within the
smart folder you dropped it on.!
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How do I remove a file from a smart folder?!
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Open up the Folder pane and select the smart folder if it is not already open, close the Folder
pane by swiping the blue area leftwards. Then find the file you want to remove and swipe its
name leftwards. This will reveal a red Remove button. It does not delete the file, but just
removes it from the smart folder.!
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How do I switch from one folder to another?!
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In the File Browser, swipe rightwards to open the Folder pane. Tap on the folder you want to
switch to. The name of the folder will now appear above the file list in the File Browser, and
the tag cloud will change to show just the tags that have been used in the files within that
folder.!
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Viewing Files!
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How do I view a file?!
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Tap on its name in the File Browser and the file will open into Document View.!
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What is Document View, and how can I tell when I’m in it?!
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It’s the default view when you open a file. You can tell you’re in Document View when there
are navigation arrows on both sides of the screen.!
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I want to zoom in/out so as to fit the page width/height?!
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Double-tap the open page and it will toggle between the two (i.e. fitting maximum width or
page height).!
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Can I pinch-to-zoom in/out? !
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Yes. !
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I zoomed in and accidentally slid the document out of view. All I see is a gray screen. !
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Don’t worry, it’s not like when your contact lens slips off to the side of your eyeball. Just swipe
with your finger either leftwards or rightwards. You should see the page slide into view.
Double-tap to bring it back under control. Yes, it would be nice if contact lenses worked that
way too.!
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How do I navigate through the document? !
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There are two ways: (1) You can scroll using swipe gestures up and down; (2) you can use
the navigation arrows on either side of the screen.!
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I want to navigate from annotation to annotation. Can I do that? !
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Yes. When you select an annotation, the selected annotation is highlighted with a red
(animated) line. If you now use the navigation arrows, they will take you to the next annotation
(or the previous one) and automatically highlight it - this way you can go through and tag all
your annotations one after the other. !
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Can I scroll through to a particular page without having to repeatedly swipe my way
through or tap the navigation buttons? !
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Yes. in Document View, you can swipe your finger from the left edge rightwards (note the
chevron on the bottom left as a reminder that there’s something that will happen if you swipe
from the edge). A multi-page view will open that allows you to scroll through thumbnails of
each page (the thumbnails even show annotations). There is also a slider in this view that you
can use to rapidly navigate to a particular point in the document. When you see the thumbnail
of the page you want to view, simply tap it and the document will scroll to that point.!
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In the multi-page view, how do I know which is the currently open page?!
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The thumbnail for the currently open page is marked with a blue border. The others aren’t.!
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If my document hasn’t got numbered pages, how do I know what page I’m on?!
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Open the multi-page view (swipe rightwards from the left edge) and the current page will be
shown with a blue border (it will be around halfway down the thumbnails) - the page number
is shown on that thumbnail.!
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I followed a link that took me to another part of the document. How do I go back to
where I came from?!
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When you follow a link, a leftward pointing arrow will appear at the top left of the screen.
Pressing it will take you back to where you came from. The arrow will then turn into a
rightward pointing arrow that will take you again to where you’ve just been.!
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I clicked on an item on the Table of Contents and got taken there. How do I go back to
where I came from?!
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Same as above - tap the arrow that will appear at the top left of the screen.!
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How do I view a file’s Table of Contents (ToC)?!
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Tap on the button on the left edge of the screen marked ’T/C’. The entries in the ToC are live
links - tapping on them takes you to the page with that content.!
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Help! My buttons have disappeared. What did I do wrong?!
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Nothing. You can hide the navigation and other buttons in Document View by tapping
anywhere on the document or gray background (so long as it’s not a button you tap on).
Tapping once, again, will bring the buttons back.!
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Can I hide the buttons so that I’m not distracted while reading?!
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Yes. See the last question. Tap once anywhere in Document View!
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How do I switch to viewing another document?!
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If the document’s name is on the black File bar at the bottom edge, tap its name and the
document will open. If not, tap the name of the currently open folder, and that will take you
back to the File Browser (showing the contents of that folder). From there, you can select the
other document if it’s in that folder, or you can select another folder. If you can’t remember in
which folder you’ve put the file, you can select All Files, and you’ll find it there.!
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Do I need to close the current document before switching to another?!
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No. If you don’t close it, its name will remain in the File bar, and you can quickly go back to it.!
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In Document View, some buttons are on the right, and some on the left. Why?!
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We put all the editing buttons on the right, and all the other buttons on the left.!
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Can I search for text within a document?!
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Yes. In Document View, tap the button on the lefthand side that has the magnifying glass on
it. A floating palette will appear into which you can type a search term.!
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When I search for text, can I navigate from one instance to the next?!
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Yes. Just tap on ‘Next’ or ‘Prev’ to move forward or backwards to the next (or last) instance of
the text you’re searching for.!
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When I scroll to a new page, the text is sometimes blurry for a brief while. Why?!
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If you haven’t viewed a page before, TagNotate has to very quickly ‘render’ the text so that it
appears smooth. Some apps effectively turn off the display (and show a kind of checkerboard)
until the rendering is complete. TagNotate avoids this by first rendering a low-resolution image
of the text and then replacing it with the high-resolution version. Once a page has been
viewed, it is cached and you won’t notice any initial blurring. But generally, you shouldn’t
notice anything but the high-resolution page.!
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Annotating Files!
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What counts as an ‘annotation’?!
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Anything you add into an existing PDF (without actually adding more text to the body of the
document). So highlighting, underlining, or striking through text are all considered
‘annotations’. As are notes, text, drawings, and anything else you might add (as we extend
TagNotate’s capabilities, we shall be adding more annotation types).!
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What’s the difference between note and text annotations?!
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A note looks like a notelet or post-it attached to the text. If you tap on it (or on a desktop
machine, click on it) it will open up to reveal the text you’ve added. A text annotation looks like
you’ve typed directly onto the document, so unlike notes you can read them directly without
having to tap or click on anything. !
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How do I add an annotation into a file?!
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It depends on the kind of annotation you want to add. Whichever it is, you’ll need to be In
Document View. See the FAQ on highlighting, underlying or striking thru, or the FAQ on
adding notes, text or drawing.!
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How do I highlight, underline, or strike through text?!
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In Document View, tap and hold on a word. That will select the word and bring up two grab
bars that allow you to extend the selection beyond the word. Simultaneously an Annotation
pop-up will appear, allowing you to highlight, underline, or strike through. The icons for these
are fairly obvious, we hope. !
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What are the other options I can see on the Annotation pop-up?!
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‘Copy’ does just that. It copies text to the clipboard (and this text can be pasted in other apps
if you switch to another app). ‘Tag’ applies the last annotation type (highlight, underline, or
strike through) and opens up the Tagging pane so that you can tag the annotation without
having to re-select it. If you select a single word, you’ll also see a ‘Define’ option, which when
tapped will pop up a dictionary definition of the selection. If the OS can’t recognise the word
(i.e. it’s not in the currently selected dictionary), it will instead show ‘Wikipedia’, and if tapped
will open up a browser window to Wikipedia right within TagNotate. If you have selected
multiple words, it will also show ‘Wikipedia’. Next to Define or Wikipedia you’ll also see
‘Search’, which will open up a floating search palette allowing you to go to the next or
previous occurrences of the selected word.!
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What is the Tagging pane, and what’s it for?!
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Whenever you select an annotation, two things happen: An annotation palette pops up. Also,
a blue pane slides over showing you all the tags that are available for you to select from if you
want to tag the annotation. It also allows you to create a new tag, or search for tags by typing
the beginning letters of the tag you’re looking for. This is the tagging pane.!
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What is the difference between the Annotation palette and the Annotation pop-up?!
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When you select text in Document View, an Annotation pop-up does just that – pops up. See
‘How do I highlight, underline, or strike through text?’ for further details of what you can do
with that. When you select an annotation, an Annotation palette pops-up (and the Tagging
pane slides into view). It allows you to change the annotation type, it’s color, copy the
annotation text, or delete the annotation.!
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Why can’t I select text across page boundaries?!
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Yes, we know about that, and will implement a fix. It’s actually difficult to select across pages
gracefully (headers and footers get in the way, and for multi-column format it’s doubly
difficult). We have chosen not to implement ‘hacks’ but to try and do everything as gracefully
as possible, so when we have a good way of doing it, we’ll implement it.!
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How do I add notes, text, or a drawing to a document?!
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See the separate FAQs on each type of annotation.!
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How do I add notes to a document?!
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In Document View, make sure the buttons are visible (see the separate FAQ on this) and
select the ‘notes’ button on the righthand side of the screen. It’s the button that’s the next one
down from the X button used for closing the file. A prompt will tell you to ‘Tap anywhere to
place a note’ (you can cancel by pressing the X that is in the same prompt pop-up). Tap
anywhere on the page and a floating note palette will appear into which you can type your
text. Simultaneously, the tagging pane opens so that you can tag the note if you wish. You
can close the note palette by tapping the X on it. You can change the colour of the note (not
the text, just the note icon that appears in the document) or delete the note, or copy the text in
the note onto the clipboard.!
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How do I move a note onto a different location on the page?!
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If the note palette is open, close it. Tap and hold the note’s icon to grab it (it will be obvious
when it’s become grabbed). Slide it over to wherever you want it and release it. As you slide
the note, it slides with you.!
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How do I add a text annotation onto a page?!
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In Document View, make sure the buttons are visible (see the separate FAQ on this) and
select the ‘text’ button on the righthand side of the screen. It’s the button with a ’T’ in a faint
box. A prompt will tell you to ‘Tap anywhere to insert text’ (you can cancel by pressing the X
that is in the same prompt pop-up). Tap anywhere on the page and a floating text palette will
appear into which you can type your text. A red boundary box will also appear to show you
where the text will appear on the page. Simultaneously, the tagging pane opens so that you
can tag the text if you wish. You can close the text palette by tapping the X on it. You can
change the colour of the text or delete it, or copy it onto the clipboard.!
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How do I move a text annotation to a different location on the page?!
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If the text palette is open, close it. Tap and hold the text to grab it (unlike notes, it is not
currently obvious when it’s become grabbed - we are working on that). Slide it over to
wherever you want it and release it. As you slide the text, the text does not slide with you. We
are working on that too. But when you release your finger, the text will magically move to the
new location.!
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How do I add a freehand drawing onto a page?!
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In Document View, make sure the buttons are visible (see the separate FAQ on this) and
select the ‘drawing’ button on the righthand side of the screen. It’s the button with what looks
like a pencil on it. A prompt will tell you that you are in ‘Drawing Mode’ (you can cancel by
pressing the X that is in the same prompt pop-up). Start drawing anywhere on the page. The
color of the pen is determined by the coloured button that appears on the lefthand edge of the
screen. The two buttons with arrows are ‘undo’ and ‘redo’ buttons (‘redo’ allows you to redo
what you have just undone - it is not a ‘repeat’ button). When you are done drawing, tap the
button on the left with the tick mark.!
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Can I annotate a drawing?!
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Yes. Tap the drawing and an Annotation palette will appear.!
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When I tap on a drawing a red boundary box appears. What is that?!
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It’s the boundary that ‘defines’ the location of the drawing. Tapping anywhere within that
boundary will bring up the annotation palette for the drawing. Equally, if you tap and hold
anywhere within the boundary region, you can move the drawing to a different location.!
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How do I move a drawing?!
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Tap and hold the drawing (tap anywhere in the boundary region defined by the drawing) to
grab it (unlike notes, it is not currently obvious when it’s become grabbed - we are working on
that). Slide it over to wherever you want it and release it. As you slide the drawing, it does not
slide with you. We are working on that too. But when you release your finger, the drawing will
magically move to the new location.!
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I’m trying to select text near a drawing but each time I do that, the drawing moves.
What gives?!
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The boundary region of a drawing is a ‘layer’ that sits ‘above’ the text. You can’t select text
that is beneath the drawing layer (there’s a workaround in the next FAQ). So what you’ve
ended up doing is grabbing the drawing and then releasing it, TagNotate then assumes you
wanted to move the drawing!
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How do I select text that’s beneath a drawing?!
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Move the drawing out of the way, select the text, do with it what you will, and then move the
drawing back.!
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How do I change the color of my note, text annotation, underline, drawing, etc?!
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For everything except drawings, you select the annotation and there is a Color button on the
Annotation palette that will pop-up. You can’t currently change the color of an existing drawing
– you have to select the color before you start drawing.!
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How do I view my annotations?!
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There are different ways to view annotations:!
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(1) directly in the text when viewing a file;!
(2) by swiping leftwards from the right-hand edge in Document View (this brings up an
Annotation Summary showing all the file’s annotations if no tags are selected from the
associated tag cloud, or just those annotations associated with whichever tags have been
selected in that tag cloud;!
(3) by tapping the small encircled arrow adjacent to each file’s name in the File Browser (this
brings up an Annotation Summary showing all the file’s annotations if no tags are selected
from the File Browser’s tag cloud, or just those annotations associated with whichever
tags have been selected in that tag cloud);!
(4) by swiping leftwards from the right-hand edge of the File Browser (this brings up an
Annotation Summary showing annotations from all the files currently listed in the File
Browser if no tags are selected from the File Browser’s tag cloud, or just those
annotations associated with whichever tags have been selected in that tag cloud).!
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Can I copy annotations?!
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Yes. You can copy text that has been highlighted, underlined, or struck through. You can also
copy the text in notes that you have added, as well as any text annotations you’ve added.!
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How do I copy annotations?!
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You can copy individual annotations directly from the Document View, or from the Annotation
summaries.!
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What is an Annotation Summary?!
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It’s a summary of all the annotations in one or more documents, depending on whether or not
you have selected any tags to ‘filter’ the annotations (i.e. to restrict the annotations to just
those associated with the selected tags). Each annotation can be displayed either as shown
in the file were you to open the file in Document View (‘In-place’ - showing surrounding
context also) or as just the text of the annotation (‘Extracted’). Annotations can be filtered by
whether they are associated with ‘Any’ of the tags that have been selected (equivalent to
‘OR’) or with ‘All’ of the selected tags (equivalent to ‘AND’). Each annotation shows the
document it is from (if the annotations are from more than one document), the page number,
and the associated tags.!
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Can I filter the annotations shown in the Annotation Summary using my tags?!
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Yes! That’s the point of TagNotate! For the Annotation Summary brought up through
Document View, simply select one or more tags from the tag cloud and that will filter the
annotations. For Annotation Summaries brought up from the File Browser, preselect the tags
you want in the File Browser tag cloud before bring up the Annotation Summary.!
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How do I view an Annotation Summary?!
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see ‘How do I view my annotations?’.!
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What can I do with the contents of the Annotation Summary?!
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You can copy individual annotations (‘Copy’) or all of the annotations (‘Copy all’) to the
clipboard, and you can tap an annotation to go back to the position in the document where the
annotation is located.!
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Why are there spaces missing between some of the words in the Annotation
Summary?!
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Different PDF documents can encode spaces in different ways. We've tried to anticipate all
the different ways, and so far, spaces are correctly shown on all the different PDFs we’ve
used for testing. But if you have a file that doesn’t show spaces properly, or which has other
problems, please send send it to us and we’ll try and fix it. Tap the ⓘ and use the feedback
button to send us the file. Don’t forget to tell us which is the text in the file that hasn’t worked
for you.!
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Tags, and Tagging!
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What is a tag?!
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It is a label that you stick on something. Most often, the same label is used to stick onto many
things. And each thing can have multiple labels. Here is an example: A photo may show 5
people and be tagged with each of their names. It will have 5 tags. One of those people (call
him Cicero) might also be in a different photo with his friend Virgil, and that different photo will
have a tag for Cicero (“Cicero”) as well as a tag, perhaps, for Virgil. How is this useful?
Imagine you wanted to retrieve all your photos of Cicero: you can ask your photos app to
show you all the photos tagged “Cicero”. Or “Cicero and Virgil” (in which case you’d just get
photos that show Cicero and Virgil together, in the same photo). Or “Cicero or Virgil” (you’d
get all the photos with Cicero and all the photos with Virgil, even if some photos show just one
and some just the other). Tags would help you organise, sort, and retrieve your photos.!
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Why is it useful to tag annotations?!
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Each document we have has different snippets of information in it. If we know we’ll want to
subsequently retrieve a snippet, we can annotate it and then tag it. If there is another snippet
of information that we might also want, we can annotate and tag that. If the two pieces of
information are about the same thing, we’d give them the same tag, or if they’re about
different things, different tags. We can then use tags to retrieve all the snippets of information
that we want that are on a particular theme, say. Similarly, we can use tags to retrieve all the
documents that contain information that is on a particular theme. They are a powerful tool for
organising and retrieving information within documents (generally, tags are used for tagging
entire files - what TagNotate does that is novel is to use tags for tagging content within files).!
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How do I create a tag?!
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Select an annotation (by tapping on it) to open the blue Tagging pane. At the top will be a text
field with a dimmed ‘Create’ button beneath it. Type the name of the tag that you want to
create into the text field and then tap ‘Create’.!
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Can I rename or delete tags?!
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Yes. You can edit or delete tags in the File Browser’s tag cloud and in the Tagging pane’s tag
cloud. The changes percolate through to all instances of the tag across all documents.
Deleting a tag does not just delete it from the currently open document, but from all
documents.!
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How do I assign a tag to an annotation?!
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Select an annotation to open the Tagging pane. Select one or more tags in the tag cloud on
that pane (by tapping each one). If necessary, create a tag and then select it when it appears
in the tag cloud. As you tap each tag they appear on the floating Annotation Palette.!
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Can I assign more than one tag to an annotation?!
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Yes, as many as you want.!
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What kinds of things can I tag?!
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You can currently tag any kind of annotation that you add into the PDF (highlighted,
underlined, or struck through text, plus notes, text notes, and drawings you have added from
within TagNotate).!
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How can I tag an image that’s in the file?!
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To tag an image, use the drawing tool to draw a frame around the image. Then tag that frame.!
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I want to tag an entire file. How can I do that?!
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Smart folders are really file tags. Instead of creating a tag that you assign to different files,
you create a smart folder and drop all those different files into the folder.!
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What is a ‘tag cloud’?!
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A tag cloud is a list of tags that you’ve used. Depending on the tag cloud, it will either be a list
of all the tags across all your documents, a list of all the tags across all the documents in the
currently open smart folder, or a list of all the tags !
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Where can I find the tag clouds?!
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Tag clouds appear in three different places in TagNotate (corresponding to three different
things that you’d be doing): in the File Browser, when you are viewing the list of files or
folders; in the Tagging pane when you have selected an annotation; in the Annotation
summary brought up from within Document View. !
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How do I use a tag cloud? What do they do?!
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Tag clouds have two primary uses: (1) They allow you to select just the annotations
associated with the selected tag(s), or files containing such annotations; and (2) they allow
you to select one or more tags to associate with an annotation. Tag clouds also allow you to
edit or delete tags (see ‘Can I rename or delete tags?’), see which tags you’ve used most
recently, and which tags you’ve used most frequently.!
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Some of the tags in the tag cloud are larger than others. Why?!
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The size of a tag (i.e. the size of the font) indicates the relative frequency of use of that tag –
the larger the size, the more frequently it’s been used.!
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Some of my tags in the tag cloud are moving! What’s up with that?!
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When a tag is used very frequently, it gets so big that the label may not fit within the available
column width of the tag cloud. To allow you to read the entire label, the tag drifts left and right.!
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Can I use multi-word tags, or must they be single words?!
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Tags can have spaces in them. However, if you have a mix of multi- and single-word tags it
does make it a little harder to distinguish between them in the tag cloud.!
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The Clipboard!
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I know what a clipboard is, why do I need a FAQ about it?!
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The clipboard in iOS or even in OS X is a very simply thing: you copy something onto it, and
you can then paste it somewhere else. But if you now copy something else onto the clipboard,
it replaces the contents of the clipboard, rather than adding to it. We figured that TagNotate
users would want to add to the clipboard as they found/retrieved the annotations that matter
to them, so that once they’re done, they can then paste the accumulated contents into
another app or an email. So that’s what we’ve built.!
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What’s the relationship between the iOS clipboard and TagNotate’s clipboard!
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Whenever you copy an item (whether a word or phrase or annotation), it is placed on the
system (iOS) clipboard AND the TagNotate clipboard. So the system clipboard will always
have the most recently copied item on it. The TagNotate clipboard will have everything you’ve
copied onto it since you last cleared it (i.e. emptied it).!
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Can I see what’s on the TagNotate clipboard?!
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Yes. You access the clipboard from the far right of the File bar (the black bar at the bottom of
the screen) — the icon looks like a clipboard. Tap it, and the clipboard opens.!
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Sometimes there’s a number showing in the clipboard icon. What is that?!
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The number tells you how many items are on the clipboard. No number means no items.!
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What can I do with the TagNotate clipboard open, other than see what’s in it?!
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You can copy the entire contents onto the system clipboard for pasting into another app, or
you can email the entire contents.!
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I have things in the TagNotate clipboard that I don’t want to copy. What can I do?!
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You can delete individual entries in the clipboard by tapping on the X next to each one.!
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How do I close the TagNotate clipboard?!
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Tap the X in the top right of the screen.!
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How do I clear the contents of the TagNotate clipboard?!
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If the clipboard is open, there is a Clear button on the top left. This empties the clipboard.!
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I want to email the contents of an Annotation summary. How do I do that?!
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If you want to email only those annotations and nothing else that has been added to the
clipboard previously, check that the clipboard icon (bottom right of the screen) is empty. If not,
open it, tap the Clear button, and close the clipboard. Back in the Annotation summary, select
Copy All and open the clipboard. Choose whether or not you want to include tags with each
annotation, and whether you want the annotations sorted by document/page number or by the
date/time at which you added them to the clipboard. Finally, select Email, and an email page
will open up with the annotations contained on it.!
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Why does the Annotation summary sometimes show the filename associated with an
annotation and other times it doesn’t? !
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Filenames are only included in the Annotation summary if the annotations are from across
more than one file.!
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Miscellaneous questions!
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I can think of more questions for this FAQ, where do I send them?!
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Please email us at [email protected]!
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This app is awesome! I’d like you to develop an app for me.!
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Contact [email protected] if you are serious.!
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There’s stuff I really like about this app, but also stuff I don’t. Do you want feedback?!
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Yes please! Email [email protected].!
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Why did you use Cicero, Virgil, Cato, and Virgil as tags in the examples you used?!
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When we created the Getting Started document, and needed screenshots of a document, we
used a piece of Latin, Lorem Ipsum, which is standardly used as placeholder text. It is based
on a verse by Cicero. We added Virgil, Ovid and Cato because they are also big names in
Latin literature (our thanks to Wikipedia for introducing us to Cato). !
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It looks like this is the last question in the FAQ. Is that right?!
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Yes.!
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For further information use the following resources:!
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Read the Getting Started document that installs with TagNotate!
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Within the App, use the ⓘ button, or open the FAQ!
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Email us. Press the ⓘ button and a feedback button will appear
immediately above it. Tap that, and you’ll be presented with various options
for contacting us.!
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Visit www.tagnotate.com!
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Please consider writing a review on the app store. Thank you! !
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© Tim and Gerry Inc. 2014!
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TagNotate - Innovation in Annotation!
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TagNotate is a registered trademark. Patent and other trademarks pending.